Confessions of a Peterborough Realtor

I wanted to write this evening about something a little different, not mortgages, green homes or tips on buying or selling, I wanted to write about the experience I had when we sold our family home six years ago.

When I was four years old I remember my parents taking my sisters and I to see the new big dream home we were going to live in. It still had fake deer that the current owners had put in the garden for decoration and I thought that was the BEST THING EVER. To my dismay the fake deer were gone when we moved in, but I still loved our new home. As we all grew older the basement was finished, the backyard spruced up and every room was up to date with the latest interior decor trends. Just when it seemed every part of our home couldn’t get any better my parents broke the news, we were moving. Us kids had all grown up, almost all moved out and my parents needed a change in scenery. I hoped they would redo the living room again, but they insisted the house was too big and our time in Sarnia had come to an end.

The day the real estate agent put his sign up on the lawn I thought it was the ugliest landmark on the street and refused to accept that our time on Errol Road was coming to an end. Our house did sell as all homes eventually do and boxes we had to pack. It was hard on us all, but we had to say goodbye to our home of fifteen years. I hated every moment of selling our home, but you know what, I’m glad I went through it. I believe it has made me a better realtor. I’ve been working with clients who know a new home is needed for their situation, but are having a difficult time selling and saying goodbye to their home and I really do sympathise with these clients. I understand how hard a move can be on a family. Usually when people are moving it’s during a time of change, and change can be stressful.

Hopefully your getting ready to move because your moving into your first home, your a newlywed or expecting another baby, but there are changes in life that require a new home that aren’t so welcomed. Our goal is to help make your transition in life easier and not make you feel like someone we are just making money off of. So, if you’re about to make a move that is stressing you out, call us, we know it can be hard and want to help you. We won’t even get mad if your kid runs over the for sale sign with their bike, I’d be a hypocrite if I did.
-Ashley Ross
sales representative

A Sneak Peek!

SORRY I"M SOLD!

Preparing For An Open House

Hello Bloggers,
Here are some helpful tips when getting ready for your next open house! Enjoy!

Want to Live in a Green House?

Have you been inspired by the recent trend of living an eco-friendly life? Do you want to take it one step further, why not make your home an eco-friendly one? Good news is Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Mortgage Loan Insurance enables approved lenders to offer borrowers (you) more affordable financing choices when buying an energy efficient home or improving your current home with items such as energy efficient furnaces, roofs, and windows.

Features include a 10% refund of the CMHC mortgage loan insurance premium and extended amortization periods without surcharge. Which means you can use 10% of the cost of your mortgage to either put toward building an energy efficient home or making improvements to your current home. This offer also includes competitive interest rates and is available across Canada.

I’d also like to give you some tips on a smaller scale that you can implement in your household to help make your home the green one you’ve been wanting. Change your light bulbs to the energy saving ones which use on average 80% less energy compared to a standard light bulb. Turn off your electronic devices at the wall, live digitally and you can save some trees by cutting out the paper, use electric blankets instead of space heaters, these small changes can make a big impact not only on our environment, but also on your wallet.
This information is also available on CMHC's website
-Ashley Ross
Sales Representative

The Importance of Pricing Right

We listed a home on Wednesday and by Friday morning there was an offer on the house. People may argue we priced the house too low, and we assert that we did our job right! Now I know the age old saying “to assume is to make an ass out of you and me”, but I feel its okay to assume when a home is listed the owner is looking to sell.
When we do list your home there are two routes we can take 1) we list your house for the market value by comparing it to similar homes in the area that have SOLD. The key to this statement is the ones that have sold. Anyone can put any price on a house/property, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to sell, therefore we look at SOLD homes/properties when coming up with a price for your home/property. Or 2) we can go with an inflated price set out by the client, have open houses, have lots of people through, have showings, have it in the paper and have no offers. Then after a few weeks we lower the price with your approval and slowly the price keeps coming down, making the selling process dragged out and you start to resent your realtor. One thing clients and potential clients must know is that even if you have an odd property, or your home is dated, needs some improvements, there is nothing that price can’t fix.
The reason it is crucial to start off with a proper listing price is once a buyer views a home that is well priced, they are excited and willing to make a good offer on it before anyone else gets to see the property. The seller is then in the position of only having their home on the market for a short period of time and is in the stronger negotiating position. Consequently, the buyer will usually pay top price to ensure the deal before anyone else gets in to see it.
For those who price their home way too high miss their market entirely and actually sell other homes that are in that price range, because those homes offer more space, improvements, etc. and people see there is more value in the properly priced home, and the over priced home just helped make a sale. This is not to say that an overprice home will not receive any offers, but it will take some time, people do become suspicious if a home has been on the market for months, and their offer will not be as high because they the buyers now have the advantage in the negotiating process.
Therefore our advice as professionals in this business is listen to your realtor: This is what they do for a living, they know the market, they aren’t emotionally attached to the home and know how to price it properly, that is of course only if you want to sell it in a reasonable amount of time.
Many people who are thinking of pricing their house should know the market, the graph located above will help you understand the extent of the diminished prices due to the recession. Prices are down from last year at this time, take a look and remember this graph when you and your realtor (hopefully us) decide on a listing price.
Happy Blogging!
-Ashley Ross, sales representative

Questions, Comments, Concerns? Ask a Professional...US!

It’s been a busy few weeks I apologize for the lack of activity on the blog; I just finished my real property law course. It was a very interesting course, I learned a lot about what to do in various and sometimes unique situations when dealing with real estate transactions and the law. Who owns what and when, ways to get out of a deal, or hold someone to it, and what happens when the Government wants to expropriate your land, well now I can tell you! I took the exam today and felt it went really well.
That’s one of the many things I am enjoying about my career in real estate, everyday I learn something new, meet someone new, brainstorm new marketing ideas or see something new. If you have any new ideas for me to try out in any aspect could be marketing ideas, new topics for articles, any videos you want to see (although I do have a few upcoming ones that I think you’ll get a kick out of) or any questions pertaining to real estate, I’d love to hear what you want to know more about. Until we meet again bloggers, keep on surfing!

What Are Our Clients REALLY Saying?

I can say we are hardworkers, I can say we'll try our best to get you top dollar, I can even say I know all there is to know about Peterborough's current real estate market, but I'd rather you hear what past clients have said...

Donna and Clint Van Gorder writes, "The Ross' went beyond our expectations. We felt very comfortable and trusted them completely, like family. I can not think of any improvements to be honest, our agents were wonderful and caring!"

Robert and Mary McMahon write, "Very satisfied with service. Agents stayed on top of sale and also provided options on other properties even at long distances."

K. Jeans writes, "Very thorough knowledge of today's real estate market and concerned for the buyer's situation as to suitable accommodations."

Lee and Rick Peters write, "John and Jane listened very well. They worked hard not only to sell our home, but also to find the home of our future"

F. Woodbeck writes, "John and Jane very friendly and efficient, highly recommend."

Now I hope you can see that word on the street is our clients are satisfied customers, hope to be working with you soon!
-Ashley Ross, sales representative